[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 54 (Tuesday, May 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING REVEREND NATHANIEL BENGBA LEGAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 5, 1998

  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, on May 8 there will be a gathering in New 
Jersey to honor a very special person, Reverend Nathaniel Bengba Legay, 
who has won deep respect and admiration of all those he serves as 
pastor of the historic Clinton Memorial AME Zion church in Newark.
  Born on the West Coast of Liberia, Reverend Legay came to America in 
1970. He spent time in New York City before moving to Jersey City, New 
Jersey, where he joined Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church. He devoted his 
time and talents to serving as Lay Minister, Trustee, Class Leader, 
Sunday School Teacher, Youth Minister and Business Manager. Answering 
the call to ministry, Reverend Legay received his Exhorter's License on 
October 10, 1984 under the pastoral leadership of the late Reverend Dr. 
Andrew Wesley Mapp. He then received his Local Preacher's License on 
September 13, 1986 under the pastoral leadership of Reverend George W. 
Maize III at the Jersey City District Conference. He was admitted to 
the New Jersey Annual conference on Trial, at the Annual Conference 
convening at Metropolitan, Jersey City on May 17, 1987. Reverend Legay 
was ordained Deacon on May 15, 1988 in the New Jersey Conference and 
ordained Elder in 1989 at the Pee Dee Conference in South Carolina. 
Reverend Legay worked with the City of Jersey City Redevelopment Agency 
from 1974 to 1980 and at the Kislak Mortgage Company from 1980 to 1989. 
He worked full time while pursing his college degree at Jersey City 
State College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 
Economics in 1977. He entered Hood Theological Seminary, Livingstone 
College, Salisbury, North Carolina and received his Master of Divinity 
Degree in May of 1992.
  His first pastoral charge was Drucilla A.M.E. Zion Church, in South 
Carolina, the City of Chesterfield, where he remained for five years 
before returning to New Jersey to join New Saint Mark A.M.E. Zion 
Church, Westwood New Jersey. It was in March of 1995 that Reverend 
Legay took his place at the Clinton Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, where 
I had the privilege to speak at the 175th Anniversary Celebration. The 
church was founded in the year that freemen left the U.S. to go to 
Liberia. Early records indicate that Essex County residents were 
involved in these early trips.
  As a young person, although I belonged to another church, I found 
great joy in attending the Memorial progressive programs. There were 
athletic activities, including basketball and other sports, as well as 
social dancing. During that time, I remember that Reverend Nelson and 
Reverend Hogard pastored the church. Reverend Legay is a Life Member of 
the NAACP, the Urban League of Hudson County, a founding Board Member 
of the Greenville Steering Committee, the Board of Examiners and the 
Program Committee of the New Jersey Annual Conference, A.M.E. Zion 
Church. Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleagues here in the U.S. House 
of Representatives join me in sending our congratulations and best 
wishes to Reverend Legay and his fine family--his wife Gloria Jean 
Finnie Legay and their son, Nathaniel, Jr.

                          ____________________